Filter tip



1952 H. L. SHAW 3,048,180

FILTER TIP Filed May 4, 1959 EZEKIEL WOLF, WOLF & GREENFIELD United States Patent Office 3,048,13fi Patented Aug. 7, 1962 3,048,180 FILTER TE Herman L. Shaw, Newton, Mass, assignor to Aquafilter Corporation, Newton Center, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 4, 1959, Ser. No. 810,714 2 Claims. (Cl. 131-207) The present invention relates to a filter for cigarettes and the like and more particularly to a unitary disposable filter of inexpensive construction into which a cigarette or the like may be fitted.

With the accumulated evidence of the deleterious effect of nicotine and tars in tobacco smoke there is an increased desire on the part of the public to obtain a more effective filter for cigarettes. Recently, many cigarette firms have tried to solve this problem by incorporating a filter tip in the cigarette. These filter tips, however, are not as effective as hygroscopic filters such as disclosed in copending application Serial Number 457,349, filed September 24, 1954, now United States Letters Patent :No. 2,911,984, issued November 10, 1959. Since filter tips integral with the cigarettes cannot of necessity be readily formed as hygroscopic filters, there is an increased demand for separable hygroscopic filters which are inexpensive to manufacture and which are certain of operation. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a filter for cigarettes which is simple and inexpensive in design. This construction of the present invention, while being inexpensive in nature, is nonetheless highly effective and provides a filter for cigarettes which is much better in filtering harmful substances including tars and nicotine from the smoke than conventional filter tips embodied in the cigarettes themselves.

The present construction also provides a disposable filter element adapted to permit the free flow of smoke therethrough without requiring the smoker to exert an unnecessary draw to effect its passage. Further, the present invention effectively filters the entire amount of smoke passing therethrough.

In the present invention the filtering body is reeesse from the end of the holder, thus providing a receptacle for the end of the cigarette. In addition, the filter of the present invention provides a liquid trap adjacent the other end of the filter material, adapted to receive condensate liquids as the smoke passes from the filter material, thereby effectively reducing the amount of distasteful fiuids which might otherwise pass into the smokers mouth. In the present invention, there is also provided means for cooling the smoke in order to reduce the biting sensation which is often caused by hot smoke.

The present invention is also designed to permit effective use of a single filter for twenty or more cigarettes; thus, considerably reducing the per cigarette cost of each filter. In this connection, it has been found that the efficiency of the filter in fact, increases with use from cigarette to cigarette.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the cigarette filter.

FIG. 2 is a cross section'taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, and,

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2. i

- As illustrated in the drawing, there is provided a housing 1 formed of injection moldable plastic material. The particular material of which the casing is made should be fire resistant and nonreactive with cigarette smoke, tars or nicotine, except insofar as minor surface discolorations may occur due to the action of the smoke, tars and nicotine. This housing 1 is substantially cylindrical at its forward end 2 and gradually tapers at its rear end into a solid mouthpiece section 3. The mouthpiece section 3 is substantially oval in cross sectional shape, and is flared outwardly as illustrated at 4 at its rear edge. A ridge 5 is provided at the rear end of the mouth piece for the purpose of providing an effective gripping area. Similarly at the forward end a ridge or head 6 may be provided about the periphery of the housing 1. The housing is formed with a cylindrical opening 7 at its forward end 2, and a narrow passage 8 continuous with the opening 7 extending through the mouthpiece section 3. A trap 9 is formed in the rear end of the cylindrical opening 7 adjacent and surrounding the passage 8. This trap or annular recess 9 is formed in part by an outer wall 29 contiguous with the pair of shelves 21, 22 and an inner Wall 23, the forward end of which is coplanar with the shelves 21, 22. This trap 9 is annular in shape, and defines the projecting wall 10 of the passage 8. It will be noted that opposite sides of the projecting wall 10 are recessed at 11 and 12 so as to assure 'an open passage therethrough of the smoke from the trap 9 into the tube 8. The filter material 13 occupies the space from the forward end of the projecting walls 10, forwardly to a point indicated at 15. The filter material 13 is secured in place by a series of preferably three, tabs 16 two of which are shown and which are gouged from the inner wall of the forward end 2., thereby holding the fiber material spaced from the forward end of the casing 1.

The filter material 13 may be formed of the same material as described in the co-pending application previously set forth, sufficiently prewet with a fluid as described in that application.

A cigarette fitted into the forward end of the filter may be smoked so that the smoke draws rearwardly through the filter material 13. The filter material is of such a nature it expands outwardly when wet and presses against the wall of the housing 2, thereby forcing all the smoke to pass through the filter material and not around it. The smoke passes into the trap where due to the cooling effect of the mass of plastic material, much of the tars and nicotine are condensed into a fluid in the trap 9. The purified smoke then passes through the recessed portions 11 and 12 into the tube 8 and then into the smoker mouth.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A cigarette holder of plastic material comprising an elongated tubular open ended casing having in series a forward end with a longitudinally extending cylindrical opening therethrough terminating in a pair of inwardly directed shelves and a solid mouthpiece section having a passage narrower than said cylindrical opening therethrough communicating with said opening, means forming an annular recess in said solid section defined by inner and outer walls thereby forming a liquid trap in said mouthpiece section extending rearwardly from said shelves and coaxial with said opening and with the outer wall of said recess at least in part contiguous with said shelves, said annular recess having a forward end coplanar with said shelves and also coaxial with said opening and with the inner wall of said annular recess and defining a portion of said passage adjacent said opening, means forming radially extending slots in said inner Wall adjacent the forward end thereof for passage of smoke therethrough, and a quantity of filter material positioned within said opening and extending forwardly from a point immediately adjacent said trap, said shelves and forward end coacting to maintain said filter material in a position covering the open end of said recess.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said filter material is inwardly spaced from the forward end of said casing and is secured within said cylindrical opening 915,726 by a plurality of tabs gouged from the inner surface of 1,856,015

said forward end.

Refierences Cited in the file of this patent 5 25,020 UNITED STATES PATENTS 394,575 James Dec. 18, 1888 406:401 683,625 Thompson Oct. 1, 1901 431,102

4 Beamish Mar. 23, 1909 Angell Apr. 26, 1932 V FOREIGN PATENTS Austria Mar. 15, 1906 Great Britain June 21, 1928 Great Britain Aug. 27, 1931 Great Britain Mar. 1, 1934 Italy Feb. 23, 1948 

